The Highest Card
by classicdisneyFTW
Summary: Growing up, Peter was always the perfect child who had everything, while Jack was always the troublemaker. But that was alright because Jack wanted nothing more than to be just like Peter when he grew up, and he was never jealous of anything he had... until now. Now, Jack is in love, but there's one problem. She is engaged... to his own brother. WYWS from Jack's POV.
1. Welcome to the Family

_So I was cleaning out some files on my computer and came across this. An old story that I had started writing a couple years back... and only half finished. I'm finishing it as we speak, but I thought I would put it up here for all to see. I absolutely ADORE this movie with all my being! It is, and forever will be, in my top 5 favorite movies of all time! I've always wondered, though, what on earth must be going through Jack's mind during this whole ordeal? I mean, seriously. He's got to be having some pretty heavy duty inner turmoil going on, right? I'm pretty sure that's why I decided to write this fic. Hope you enjoy! :)_

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It was late. Well past midnight, even though I did promise to be home for my family's belated Christmas celebration. A promise now broken. I _had_ called ahead and informed them that work was going to keep me late and I wouldn't make it to the gathering, so they couldn't be too mad at me. (Not that they ever got _really_ mad about things like that anyway). Now I just had to stop by and leave the results of today's work for my father to go over.

I pulled the large moving truck up in front of the house with a squeaking halt. I really needed to get those brakes looked at. The Christmas lights were still on all around the house, but the interior lights were shut off. Everyone was asleep.

I shut off the truck and stepped out. The brisk winter night air hit my face as I marched up to the front door. I shoved my hands into my pockets, but kept my pace even. I soon reached the door and quickly unlocked it, stepping into the warmth of the entryway.

It had been a while since I had been home. My parents's home, I should say. It had been nearly a month since I had a proper visit. I was practically running the family business now. Ever since Peter left a few years back and my father started getting on in years, it was up to me to keep it running. So, I was barely home. I probably wouldn't even have attempted coming home _now_ if it wasn't for Christmas.

Technically it was not Christmas. It was the day after. No one in my family got to celebrate it on account of my older brother, Peter, falling into a coma after being pushed onto some train tracks on his way to work. (I'm not the only one who's always working).

I had been on the other side of the city when I got the blubbering phone call from my mother. I wasn't able to make out most of what she said, but I did manage to understand that they were at the hospital and that Peter was in a coma because he fell on the tracks, so Christmas was cancelled. She said several other things, but I have no idea what they were. I couldn't make them out through all her sobbing and hysterics.

So because of Peter's coma, my family was celebrating Christmas a day late. I was supposed to be there, but I had missed it on account of Mr. Himmelstein's nephews refusing to sell anything in their uncle's house for a reasonable price. But my father had insisted that I get a hold of all the furniture in that house, because what were those nephews going to do with that big empty house, really?

So now I was returning to my parents' home around 1:00 in the morning. I quietly shut the door behind me and continued into the house. I briefly glanced into the living room at the tree. All the presents were gone and unwrapped. They must have had a great time, all unwrapping presents simultaneously while drinking wine and Grandma's homemade eggnog (which, to be honest, I'd much rather drink the wine).

"Jack!"

I looked up at the stairs and saw my younger sister, Mary, garbed up in her pajamas and bathrobe, standing at the top. I grinned at her. "Hey!" I said quietly.

"Hey, buddy!" she cried, also quietly, but enthusiastically. She ran down the stairs and threw her arms around me.

Like I said, it had been a while since I had been home. I could have sworn Mary had grown since I last saw her, even at sixteen years old and only in a month. We both laughed quietly as we embraced, but she suddenly pushed me back, shushing me. "Don't wake Lucy!" she scolded me.

She gestured into the living room. Who? What? When? Where? I looked into the living room to the sofa. There I saw the huddled form of a woman asleep under one of my mother's homemade quilts. How had I missed her when I originally looked into the living room? Her back was to us, so all I could really tell was that she had dark brown hair. I really _had_ been away for a while. I had no idea who this woman was. "Who's Lucy?" I asked.

"Lucy is Peter's fiancee," Mary told me.

That caught me off guard. Even though I had been away, surely someone would have at least called and told me that Peter was getting married! How long? The last I heard, hadn't he been dating a blonde. Something... Bacon? Wasn't it? That hadn't been _that_ long ago had it? I stared harder at the sleeping form on the couch. "No. That's not Peter's fiancee?" I half inquired, half stated.

"You haven't met her?" Mary asked.

"No," I replied. Since when do I meet any of Peter's girlfriends?

"Well she's great," Mary said, "You're going to love her."

I nodded, processing. I would have to be the judge of that, wouldn't I? My family always had been too trusting and loving. Not that that was a particularly bad thing, it's just... Peter's fiancee? I couldn't put my finger on it, but something seemed off. In that moment, I changed my mind about merely dropping off the day's work results for my father. "You know what, kid?" I said to Mary, "Maybe I'll stay the night."

"Don't eat my cereal in the morning," Mary warned me, turning to go back up the stairs.

"Oh, so it's Mary's special cereal?" I teased, beginning to follow.

"Last time you took the toy surprise, remember?" Mary said.

I threw one more glance into the living room at Peter's sleeping fiancee before following Mary up the stairs. Mary immediately headed to her own room, but not before giving me a goodnight hug. After she was gone, I went to my own room. I used my old bedroom that I used all the way through high school. As I walked down the hallway, I passed Peter's old room as well. The door was shut. If you thought _I_ had not been home in long time, I could not even remember the last time Peter came home.

My room was just next to his. I opened the door and entered. Some of my old posters still hung on the wall and my comic books, cassette tapes, even records were still messily "organized" all over the room. My mother had made sure the bed was always made, just in case I ever did return. It was never made when I did actually live there. The large laundry hamper in the corner had never been empty like it was now. It had always been overflowing and clothes had always been strewn across the floor.

I sat on the striped sheets that covered the bed. Freshly washed, I could tell. My mother always did like to keep up appearances. I instantly felt a bit of remorse. Who knew how long she waited just to have me come home to visit? She probably washed my bedding that morning, expecting me to be there for Christmas, but then I didn't show. I knew how much work meant to my father, but was it really worth it to disappoint my mother?

Luckily, I was home enough that I left a little bit of my clothes behind in case of an extended visit. I quickly changed and climbed into bed. As I closed my eyes, my mind drifted to the sleeping figure downstairs. One thing was for certain... we were going to have to meet face to face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I awoke early the next morning. I had always been an early riser. Only my father was as well, everyone else in my family liked to sleep late. I quickly pulled on jeans and a sweater before going downstairs to make myself a cup of coffee. I briefly glanced into the living room once again as I passed. Peter's fiancee, Lucy I guess, was still asleep.

I headed into the kitchen and began making myself some coffee. I found myself wondering about Lucy once again. Who was she? What did she do? Where did she live? How did she and Peter meet?

I poured my coffee into a mug, grabbed a newspaper from off the table and headed back into the front to sit on the stairs. They were a surprisingly comfortable place to sit and read the paper.

I got rather wrapped up in what I was reading and only some rustling and thumping from the other room snapped me out of it. I tried to peer down from the stairwell into the living room, but could not see what was happening. However, the only logical conclusion I could come to was that Lucy had awaken. I wondered if I should go down and say something to her, finally introduce myself. But I decided against it and merely went back to reading the paper and sipping my coffee.

After several moments, I heard quiet footsteps coming towards me, or at least towards the stairs. Soon, Lucy's back came into view, slowly and quietly approaching the door, coat in hand. She did not even notice me, too preoccupied with getting to the door. Now I decided to say something. "Good morning," I said.

She gasped, and probably would have screamed had she not covered her mouth. She whipped around to face me, putting a hand to her chest. She relaxed, taking even breaths, as she looked up at me smiling. "Oh! Oh, you scared me," she said.

I shrugged. "Sorry."

She cleared her throat. "Good morning, Jack."

So she knew who I was already. Of course she did! I'm sure if Peter already hadn't, my family had told her everything. I stared at her, finally getting a look at her face. She was rather pretty. Not in the traditional supermodel-type way like Peter usually went for, but in a more sweet, demure way.

I put my paper aside. So she knew who I was, but I really did not know who she was. "Um, I guess I don't remember meeting you," I said.

She smiled up at me again. "Well, that's probably because we've never met."

I nodded. "That might have something to do with it," I agreed. Then smiled back at her.

Then there was silence. Albeit, a rather awkward silence. I just stared at her, trying to figure her out, and she looked around wondering what to do next. Eventually the silence was broken by a car horn honking outside.

"Ooh, cab," she said, pointing to the door, "I have to go. I'm really late. Because I have to... go. But it was nice to meet you, Jack."

She turned to leave. I stood up. "Lucy," I called after her.

She turned back, suddenly looking rather stressed. "OK, look. I know that-"

"Hey," I cut her off.

"Hmm?"

What to say? Something to tell her that I didn't think badly of her. Something that said I accepted her just as much as the rest of my family. "...welcome to the family," I said.

She stared at me for a moment. "Oh, thank you," she said. Then with a final "bye", she turned to leave once more.


	2. Rising Suspicions

_Just some clarification, there is going to be a lot of reiteration of the movie since it is WYWS from Jack's perspective, but I will throw in a couple of my own original stuff here and there too._

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My family was all thrilled to see me and, of course, none of them held any hard feelings towards me for missing the previous night's party. But now, today was Sunday and everyone was heading off to church. I suppose you could consider my family faithful church attenders, at least three times a month. They were very keen to attend this Sunday though since Peter was in the hospital. He would need extra prayers, according to my mother.

So I found the nicest shirt I had out of the few I had tucked away in my closet (which, I admit, was not very quality. Flannel? Ehh... But really, flannel was pretty much all I owned. It was either that or my suit. But that was for very special occasions). Then I borrowed one of my father's ties.

In church, I discovered that the priest already knew about Peter's condition since he blessed him during one of the prayers (along with a few choice others). I guessed my family had at some point given his name for a special blessing.

Once Peter was blessed for healing, I noticed my family slowly began to lose interest slightly. I took the opportunity to finally ask a question that had been lingering in my mind since the previous night. I leaned over to my father who sat beside me. "So who's this Lucy?" I wondered softly.

"She's your brother's fiancee," he replied.

Yes, I got that part, but there was something that just didn't quite make sense to me. Surely we would have gotten some sort of inkling, some sort of hint that he was at least close to getting engaged before it actually happened. It wasn't like Peter to keep things like this to himself. He definitely liked attention. "You'd think if Peter were getting married, he would have announced it in the Tribune?" I asked.

"We read the Sun Times," my father replied.

"Amen!" everyone said with the priest.

Music began to play on the organ. I was not going to let this go so easily. My family had always been so welcoming, so trusting. And not that that was exactly a bad thing, it was just...

"So why did she sneak out this morning?" I asked.

"She has a job," my father replied without question.

"I like mass better in Latin," my grandmother spoke up from down the pew, "It's nicer when you don't know what they're saying."

My father decided that he was tired of discussing this mysterious fiancee and turned the conversation in a different direction, namely business. I had not given him my report yet after all. "Did you get the Borbeau estate?" he asked.

"Got it," I replied, relenting.

"What about Downey's?" he asked.

"Got it," I told him.

"Himmelsteins?"

"Yep."

"Did you get Van Allen?"

That was the only one I did not get to. With Himmelstein's stubborn nephews keeping me around all day, I did not have time to move on to any other houses. I didn't even get to go to my own family's Christmas party for crying out loud! "Himmelstein's took too long," I replied simply.

"Ah for goodness' sake, Jack!" my father exclaimed as the priest gestured for everyone to stand, "You're running the business now."

Yeah, about that... "That's something I'd like to talk to you about," I said.

"Talk about it later, okay?" my mother said sternly.

"Talk about it now. He can't kill you in church," Mary spoke up from my other side.

"Will you please pipe down?" a man behind us asked, annoyed.

My father turned and glared at him. "Hey, be nice, pally. We're in church."

"You're disrupting the mass!" the man declared.

"Who made you the pope?" my father demanded, turning back forward.

"Ox!" my mother reprimanded.

"How did Joe Kelly get to be a lector? He takes marijuana," my grandmother wondered.

"Amen!" everyone chorused.

I guess I should clarify my working situation. I work a lot, but not because I enjoy it. I do it to please my father. Like I said before, my brother left the business first, leaving just my father and me. If Peter had not left first, I probably would have done it. I know the business means the world to my father and if I were to leave now, it would crumble and fail. Several times I came close to telling my father I wanted to leave, but always chickened out. I'm a pleaser. If you were to summarize me into one word, it would be "pleaser". I just want people to be happy, no matter what (but not to the point of being ridiculous and unreasonable. I'm not that stupid).

We sat through the rest of church, reasonably silent, except for a couple more random remarks from my grandmother. After church, we headed home. I found my mind wandering back to the Peter situation again. As much as my family did not seem to think so, something did not seem right and I could not get it out of my head. Maybe I would just have to meet the fiancee again.

But I did not know when she would come around here again. Maybe never. Maybe she was as unsociable with family as Peter. How do I find her then? She probably would visit Peter at the hospital if she truly did care about him. But then what was I supposed to do? Just go and sit in his room and wait for her to show up? It could be hours. Days, even.

Maybe my family knew where she lived. I could pop by, say hello. Yeah, it was impossible for my family to meet her without getting her contact information. It was not in their nature. I went into the kitchen and scanned the papers, Christmas cards, shopping lists, etc. stuck to the refrigerator. Sure enough, I came across a small piece of paper that looked like it had been torn out of my father's pocket book with "Lucy Moderatz" written smoothly at the top in blue ink, followed by a phone number and address.

"What are you doing?"

I turned around and found Mary standing in the doorway. "What? Oh, I was just... wondering about Peter's fiancee," I said, "How did you meet her?"

"Oh we met her at the hospital," Mary replied, "She was already there when we got there to see Peter. I guess she saved his life."

"She did?" I asked.

"Yeah. Crazy, right?" Mary said, "She works at the train station and saw Peter get pushed onto the tracks."

Hmm, that was something. Maybe that was how the two of them met in the first place. I mean Peter did take the train to work, she worked at the station. It made sense... except for how oblivious Peter could be sometimes. But what did I know? Maybe they didn't even meet there in the first place. I would have to find out from a first-hand source.

I pulled the paper off the fridge, grabbed a set of keys off the rack, and headed out the door. I took my old red pick-up truck. I didn't have to drive my giant moving truck everywhere I went, especially if I wasn't transporting something. That was just ridiculous.

I found the address in good time. It was not very far especially considering how massive Chicago was. So Lucy lived in an small, simple apartment complex. I was actually a little surprised by how humble it was. Not that it was run-down or squalor or anything. It's just... I always thought that Peter went for the more classy, upper-class type that lived in big fancy apartments and stuff. This only fed my sprouting suspicions further that something seemed off about the whole situation.

I found a spot to park right in front of the complex. I glanced at the paper in my hand. Room 201. Shouldn't be too hard to find. I hopped out of the truck and started to walk towards the building. However, I noticed someone working on the car parked in front of my truck, head buried under the hood. Maybe they could give me some direction. Or better yet, maybe I could even get some information about this fiancee of Peter's. Outside eye could be very insightful.

I approached the person leaning over the car. "Excuse me. Do you live here?" I asked.

The person looked up from what they were doing. It was a younger man, probably around my age. He was a bit pudgy and his entire appearance screamed grunge and white trash. But I looked beyond that while he took in my appearance as well. I liked to consider myself a normal looking guy by society's standards, but who knows what this guy was thinking.

He finally answered me. "Live here? I own this place."

Hmm. I looked him over once more. Yeah. I would bet my life's earnings that the grunge of a man standing before me didn't own squat. But whether he did or not, I was still determined to get information on my potential sister-in-law. "Oh, great," I said, nodding, "So then you would know the woman that lives in 201?"

He smirked. "Know her? I'm dating her," he replied.

I stared at him. What? But she was engaged to Peter. But if she was dating this guy, then that would mean... oh. Oh! I _knew_ something was up! I knew something had not seemed right about this whole situation!

"Wait. You're dating her?" I asked, just to confirm.

"Yeah," he said, resting his thumbs on his pants and puffing out his chest.

"You are dating..." I glanced at the paper in my hand, "...Lucy Moderatz?"

"Yeah," he said again, "We've got a really deep connection, you know? Intimate." He leaned forward slightly and winked, "If you know what I mean."

I just stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Hmm," I said simply.

Well. Something would have to be done about this, wouldn't it? I decided to still stick to my original plan of seeing Lucy in order to make a judgement call. I turned to head up to her apartment, but then I realized I might need to know this man's name for future reference. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Joe," he replied, "Joe Fusco."

I nodded again. "Thanks," I said, then I headed towards the complex.


	3. Points

I discovered that Lucy was not home when I found her apartment. I decided I would try again later. To pass the time, since I was in that part of town, I decided to visit Peter's apartment to see if I could pick up on any clues about his relationship with Lucy.

Peter's apartment was surprisingly close to Lucy's. Within walking distance, really. Well... maybe a very long walk, but still. If you wanted to get your exercise fill for the day, you could definitely walk it. But I drove.

The contrast between Lucy's complex and Peter's was amazing. While Lucy's had only been three or four stories high, Peter's stretched at least _fifty_ stories high. There were bellboys and doormen running around in the lobby of Peter's. I don't think Lucy's even had a lobby. It made me wonder again, how had these two come together?

I took the elevator up to Peter's room. Room 57G. When I reached it, I found that the door was slightly open already. My first thought was that maybe the complex had a cleaning service. It wouldn't have surprised me, but if that were the case, wouldn't there be a cart outside with cleaning supplies or maybe a sign on the door or something? Then my mind immediately jumped to a burglar. But how could they have gotten a key to simply walk in?

I decided, spur of the moment, to enter the apartment. As I did, I could hear a distant voice within the apartment. A woman's voice. I couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but she seemed to be calling for something. I silently shut the door behind me.

I slowly followed the voice inside. It seemed to be coming from the kitchen. I stood behind the door and put my ear to it, listening. The voice seemed familiar somehow. How did I know it? "Come here! Come here! Come on, honey! Where are you-?"

Suddenly, the door opened and slammed right into my face. I let out a loud grunt of pain. Whoever had opened the door immediately released it and it shut once more. I groaned, recovering, face throbbing. The door slowly opened once more and I came face to face with none other than Lucy Moderatz, Peter's fiancee, herself.

She looked at me, very concerned, and put a hand to her mouth. "Oh! I am so sorry," she said.

"Nice shot," I told her.

She ran to the freezer, opening it and grabbing ice out of the dispenser. "Oh, uh... I'll get you some ice," she said nervously, shoving the ice into my hands, "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting anybody."

"Hey, how'd you get in here?" I wondered. Though, as soon as I asked it I felt like an idiot since the answer was obvious.

"Oh, uh..." she stammered, picking up fallen pieces of ice and putting them in my hand, "...key?"

Okay, point for Lucy. She had a key to Peter's apartment. "Key? So you stay here a lot, huh?" I asked. I suddenly realized that the ice was melting in my hand. I looked around for a place to set it, since I most certainly wasn't going to put it on my still slightly throbbing face. I set it on the counter.

"Oh, you know. Feed the cat..." she said.

Wait, what? I looked at her confused. As long as I had known Peter (my entire life), Peter had hated cats. Absolutely despised them! And last I visited, there had been no cat around. Although, to be fair, that had been almost a year ago. "Peter doesn't have a cat," I stated.

Just as I was ready to award myself a point, I heard a soft "meow" from behind us. Both of us turned to see a cat peering into the kitchen. Now I was more confused than ever. Since when did Peter start liking cats? Since when did Peter start liking cats enough to actually go out and get one for himself?

I watched in confusion as Lucy went to go pick the cat up. "Oh, hello," she cooed at it, picking it up, "Hello, honey. Fluffy. Hello, Fluffy. You must be so hungry."

Okay so two points for Lucy. She set the cat on the counter, pushing a can of cat food towards it.

Just then, the phone rang. Lucy looked towards it, but then back at the cat, ignoring it. I raised an eyebrow. This could be my chance to gain a point. "Are you going to get that?" I wondered.

She looked at me for a moment before answering. "Oh no, I'm going to let the machine get it," she said casually, stroking the cat.

Hmm. Why would she not want to answer the phone in her own fiancee's apartment? Where, apparently, she visited a lot. I walked over and answered it myself. "Hello?"

"Hello? This is Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I am looking for a Lucy Moderatz, please?" the voice on the other line said.

Well. So much for my point. Three for Lucy. I turned towards her, holding out the phone. "It's for you," I said.

She raised her eyebrows, but then smiled and took the phone from me. I continued watching her as she put it to her ear. "Hello?" she said, there was a pause as she listened to the person on the other line "...OK. Bye."

She hung up and turned to me. "Um, that was the hospital," she said, "They say it's customary for friends and family to come down and give blood."

Maybe I could catch her in something else if I just stuck around her a bit longer. I gave her a smile and shrugged. "Let's go together," I suggested.

I quickly found some keys hanging on a hook next to the kitchen door. I held them out to Lucy. "I'll let you do the honors," I said.

She took them from me reluctantly. "But, didn't you bring your own car?"

"Yeah, I have a truck," I said, as we walked out of the apartment, "But Peter's car is a much better ride, we can't waste the opportunity."

The apartment was a no go. I figured maybe I could catch her in something about the car. We headed down to the parking garage. It was enormous! And every spot was taken. And we were only on the first level. As soon as we entered, I saw Lucy tense up slightly. What was wrong? Maybe I finally had her.

"You know what?" she said uneasily, looking around, "I think maybe we should take your truck."

"Oh no, we ought to take Peter's car," I insisted.

"Hmm. Okay," Lucy replied, still sounding slightly uneasy.

"You know where it's parked, don't you?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Yeah," she replied almost too confidently, "Um, yeah."

A car unlocked nearby, lights flashing. I recognized it as Peter's car. Lucy must have pressed the unlock button on the remote. I looked back at her. "Hmm," I said simply.

"Hmm," she said back.

We both headed for the car. I cannot quite be sure whose point that was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the hospital, we sat on gurneys beside each other as our blood was taken. I was feeling a little lightheaded, my eyes swimming in and out of focus. I looked at Lucy beside me. She just sat there completely at ease. It was probably the first time I had seen her relaxed since I met her. What was it that made her so tense? I decided to make conversation with her to try to get some reaction out of her again.

"Hey, we'll have to get your picture for the mantel," I said.

"Of me?" she asked uncomfortably.

"No. Of you and Peter," I replied.

She laughed lightly. "I'm not that photogenic," she said.

I looked her once over as she laughed. I asserted once again that she was quite pretty, especially while she smiled. I muttered to myself, "I doubt that."

A nurse suddenly approached Lucy with a cup of water. "Now I want you to sit here and sip this or you'll get woozy," she instructed sternly.

"When did you start seeing Peter?" I asked.

"September 17," Lucy replied.

But it was only December. Well, nearly January, but still. Bit quick to be getting married wasn't it? I mean I had heard that whole "when you know, you know" before, but all that was ridiculous, wasn't it? I told her so. "Three months. That's quick," I asserted.

"You have no idea," she muttered. She quickly gulped down the cup of water and then stood up.

Hold on. Where was she going? What did she mean? I still had questions. I wasn't done with her yet. I think I had just hit a tender spot. I was getting closer to unraveling this mystery!

But she was still walking away. "That's fast. That's a fast engagement!" I tried saying in order to keep her back, but she continued walking.

"Miss!" the nurse protested.

"I'm fine," Lucy said.

I started to get up to follow her. "Wait, I'm not finished with you!" the nurse told me.

"I've got it," I said, grabbing my coat and then standing up.

However, as soon as I was on my feet, the light-headness began to takeover and everything became hazy, and my legs turned to Jell-O. The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes, lying back on the gurney. Apparently I had fainted.

This time, I let the nurse finish up with me before trying to stand again. As soon as I got permission to go, I hurried out of the room to Peter's room. Fortunately for me, I caught up with Lucy who was still waiting by the elevator. I glanced at her as we traveled to Peter's room. I was going to have to stop being so subtle with her. There was only one way to find out if she was really as devoted to my brother as she appeared to be. Time to break out the big guns.

We finally reached Peter's room in the ICU. My family was already there. Apparently they had come straight there after church. As we entered, my father immediately addressed Lucy with, "Maybe Lucy knows his favorite song?"

There was a short silence before my mother began to answer. "Puff the Magic..."

"Dragon," Lucy finished confidently. She looked at me and repeated it, "Dragon."

I nodded. Okay, so she could probably already sense what I had been trying to do. I guessed now was as good as any time to break out the big guns. I stepped around so that I was facing her. "Which one of the Three Stooges was Peter's favorite?" I asked.

She hesitated just for a second before answering, "Curly."

"Curly. Ha!" I repeated loudly. I noticed everyone staring at me and added quietly, "He's everybody's favorite."

"I like Shemp," I heard our next door neighbor, mine and Peter's godfather, Saul, mutter from nearby.

That hadn't been a very good question. Something else. How about... "Favorite ice cream?"

"Baskin Robbins," Lucy replied confidently.

"Favorite... baseball team?"

"...Chicago."

Ooh. There had been some hesitation there. Maybe I had her now. "Cubs or White Sox?" I asked smugly.

Before she could answer, my father spoke up, confused. "What the heck is going on?"

"Why are you asking her all these questions?" my mother asked, approaching us.

Well, time to reveal all. Time for the confrontation. "Don't ask me," I replied, "Ask her boyfriend."

Lucy glared at me. My mother looked offended and pointed to the comatose Peter lying behind us. "That isn't very funny, you know," she said.

"No, no. Not this boyfriend," I said, pointing to Peter. Then I turned back to Lucy, narrowing my eyes, ready for her reaction. "Joe Fusco," I said.

She snorted in laughter. It took her a moment before she could speak clearly. "Joe Jr.?" she asked.

But I was not going to be fooled. She could try to cover it up, try to play it off, but it would take more than just a laugh to convince me that there was not something going on between the two of them. "Mm-hmm, that's right," I said confident, "Mr. Joe Fusco Jr. He said that you were intimate."

Lucy looked at me incredulously. "Yeah, well he also said he invented aluminum foil," she said, hands on her hips, "He's delusional."

"He was very lusive when I talked to him," I said.

"Oh dear," I suddenly heard my grandmother fretting in the corner, "Oh dear."

"Ma, are you okay?" my mother asked her, concerned.

"You see what you did?" my father said to me in an accusatory tone, approaching my grandmother and holding her hand.

"What did I do?" I asked innocently, because really all I had done was bring up a valid concern.

"Well, if she wanted to prove it... she'd prove it," my grandmother said, looking at Lucy.

Ah, so my grandmother had caught onto my scheme. I, along with everyone else in the room slowly turned to look at Lucy, waiting for her verdict. She looked at us, speechless. I just watched her, raising my eyebrows. Well? Anything to say?

She opened her mouth slightly, but then closed it again, looking extremely nervous. I knew it, she could not prove anything! Finally a point for me-

"P-Peter... h-has one... testicle," Lucy suddenly said.

Everyone in the room started and looked at Peter, stunned. No. That... couldn't... She did not just say what I thought she said... did she? Oh good gosh.

I was the first to look back at Lucy, completely shocked. "No way," I said.

"Way," she replied, hands on her hips again, "About a month ago, there was an accident and he was playing basketball and his friend had a pencil in his... back pocket."

"Ew," Mary groaned.

Oh sweet Moses! I frowned in disgust. I saw that everyone else was as well. There was only one way to find out if she was telling the truth or not. I looked at my father. "Um, maybe uh..." I left the statement open, gesturing to Peter on the bed.

My father shook his head, eyes wide with horror and disgust. "No."

Everyone looked around at each other, hoping someone else would volunteer.

"Well, somebody's got to look!" my father said finally after a moment of awkward glances.

"Don't look at me," Mary said.

Lucy just stood off to the side, waiting while the rest of us uncomfortably tried to figure out what to do.

"Okay. I'm his mother!" my mother finally said, resigned.

She stepped forward and pulled up Peter's blanket.

"Oh, mom! Ew!" Mary cried, covering her face and turning away.

I just looked back at Lucy as she bit her lip, looking away from us uneasily. So if this proved to be right... I guess she would win. I narrowed my eyes slightly.

My mother set Peter's blankets back in place, her face solemn and grave. She just looked at us and gave a slight nod. Everyone cringed. A thousand points to Lucy then. And we have a winner.


	4. The Sofa

We all headed home shortly after the little... episode in the the hospital. As soon as we got home, my father brought me into the backyard. It was just getting dark when he brought me over to a line of furniture.

"Jack," he said, "I need you to deliver this sofa."

It was a traditional, green and white flower print sofa. It didn't look brand new, probably from one of the houses we cleared out, but it was in pretty good shape... and it was one of the ugliest pieces I had ever seen.

"Where to?" I asked.

"Lucy," my father replied, "It's an engagement present from me and your mother."

I stuck my hands into my pockets. So once again I was to be thrown into this woman's path today. Although, I suppose I did sort of seek her out before. Who knew how she felt about me after what I had done today. I had made a complete fool of myself. Would she even want to see me?

I allowed a sigh to escape my lips. Well, really all I had to do was drop off a sofa. Surely she would accept that? Especially if she knew it was from my parents.

So I took the sofa, packed it into the back of my moving truck, and drove to Lucy's apartment for the second time that day. Just as I was parking, I could have sworn I saw a man walking out of the complex who looked a lot like Saul. Strange. Why would he be visiting her?

I headed up the stairs to her apartment and knocked. "Who is it!?" I heard her cry from inside. She sounded almost... exasperated? She couldn't have known I was coming already, right?

"It's me. Jack Callaghan," I answered.

I had to wait a minute before she finally opened the door, but not enough to admit me. She was still wearing her coat and scarf. It seemed she had just got home from the hospital. "Hi," she greeted me, "So, more questions?"

Well she couldn't have been too mad at me if she was willing to joke about our little hospital misadventure. I just smiled sheepishly. "No. I have an engagement present for you," I said.

She relaxed slightly. "Oh. You really shouldn't have," she said, suddenly avoiding my gaze.

"I didn't. It's from my parents," I confessed. The comment suddenly reminded me that I would probably have to get them something eventually. The thought sort of irked me for some reason.

"Oh," she said.

"It's furniture. Do you want me to bring it up?" I asked. Then I suddenly remembered seeing Saul on my way in. "Hey, was that Saul I saw leaving?"

A loud thump suddenly emanated from inside her apartment. "What's that?" I asked.

She hesitated before answering. "Cat."

Her cat made that loud of a noise? What was her cat a mountain lion or something? "Big cat?" I wondered, suspiciously.

She changed the subjected back to the sofa. "You know, I think you should bring it to... bring it to uh... bring it Peter's apartment!" the idea suddenly dawning on her like a light in the dark.

"You don't know what it is," I pointed out.

"Well, you know, anything would look nicer in Peter's apartment," she said with a smile so wide I almost felt butterflies in my stomach. Another thump sounded from inside her apartment. "And you know what? I'll come with you," she said quickly.

She simply walked out the door with me, closing it behind her since she was already dressed in her coat and scarf.

Nothing very eventful happened on the ride over to Peter's apartment. Like I said, his complex was surprisingly close. We mostly sat in silence. I really wanted to say something about earlier events and apologize for what a jerk I had been, but the opportunity never really presented itself. She did not seem very angry with me, so at least there was no tension in the air about us.

Fortunately, when we arrived, there was a large open space right in front of of the complex which I parked in. I moved as close as possible to the car in front so as to make as much room as possible in the back for unloading. I turned off the truck and both of us hopped out.

I headed around to the back and began to unlock it. Lucy soon followed. "I think you parked too close to the other car," she said.

"I had to," I explained, "We've got to unload the furniture."

She just raised her eyebrows at me. I placed my hand on the handle, ready to open it. "Are you ready for your surprise?" I asked. With one swift movement, I pulled the door up, revealing the back of the truck. I stepped inside, towards the sofa. "Ta-da!" I said.

Lucy looked inside in awe. "Oh, that is great," she said, sounding completely genuine and awestruck. Really? I mean, the sofa was pretty nice and all, but I certainly would not call it great. It definitely did not have a great pattern. But to each his own I guess. Or her own.

I helped her get inside, expecting her to head straight for the sofa, but to my surprise, she went towards the rocking chair I had built that was sitting right next to it. She rested her hand on it in wonder. "That is so great," she said, still in awe.

Well, it was always nice to have your work appreciated. I couldn't help smiling for a moment before breaking the news that it was not her engagement present. "Like that?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Too bad," I said, and pointed to the sofa, "Ox got you the love seat."

Lucy suddenly noticed the sofa. "Oh I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I made this," I said tentatively, nodding.

Lucy looked at me, then back at the chair, shocked. "What? This? No you didn't!"

I smirked. "Shocking, isn't it?"

Lucy was staring and admiring the chair once again. "Can I sit in it?" she asked.

I nodded, stepping back from it. "Rock out."

She gave smile at my choice of words and I felt a small sense of accomplishment. She was one of the few people who found my stupid little jokes actually funny. And it was gratifying. She slowly lowered herself into the chair and rocked slightly. She rubbed her hand against the wood, smiling. "Wow, this is perfect," she said, "You should go into business or something."

Remember when I said that I had on more than one occasion tried to leave the family business, but then chickened out? This was why. This was what I really loved doing. Now it was really just a side thing that I did if I ever had any free time (which was rare). I sat down on the sofa beside her. "Well," I said, "That gets tricky."

She immediately understood. "Oh yeah. Working with your dad and everything, right?"

I nodded. "The business used to be called _Callaghan and Sons_, but then when Peter went off to law school, it became _Callaghan and Son_. If I were to leave... it would just be _Callaghan_."

She nodded, understanding my predicament. I cleared my throat, "So, ready to move this up to Peter's?"

"Okay," she replied.

She stood and I began to remove the harnesses from around the sofa. She helped me lower it to the ground and we both pushed it towards the large glass doors of the complex, Lucy pulling in front and me pushing in the back.

"Just take a second here to unlock the doors," I said, beginning to move towards the doors.

"No, no, no. I got it," Lucy said. She rushed to the doors, holding one open with her hands and the other open with her legs, creating a sort of underpass with her body. "See?" she said proudly.

"Oh this technique?" I said, amused, beginning to push the sofa under her and through the doors as she giggled, "It's always very... very modern..."

I managed to get the sofa through, but just then a doorman approached me. The doors shut and Lucy took over taking care of the sofa. "Excuse me, sir! What apartment?" the doorman asked me.

"57G," I replied.

"Uh... well, sir, I'm sorry. Guests have to be announced," the doorman said.

"Well I'm with her. I'm helping her," I said pointing to Lucy inside. She gave a little wave before beginning to try and push the sofa on her own. I waved back.

The doorman looked at her then back at me, unfazed. "So?"

"You don't know her?" I asked, my old suspicions beginning to rise up once again.

The doorman looked at her again. She accidentally crashed the sofa into the wall. "No..." he said hesitantly.

Hmm, now why would a doorman not recognize a supposed regular visitor? Before I could say anything, the doorman quickly added, "But I'm new here!"

Ah! Well, that explained it then. "Oh, well she's Peter Callaghan's fiancee in 57G," I told him.

"Oh!" the doorman exclaimed. He quickly opened the door for me. "They told me about her, sir... She's scary."

I smirked. "Tell me about it."

I entered and followed after Lucy. I found her at the elevator, trying to figure out what to do. She seemed to be comparing the width of the elevator to the width sofa, then deciding if it would fit if she were to turn it on its back. I chuckled slightly and approached her. "You turn it vertical," I informed her.

"Oh, right," she said, grabbing a hold of one end to steady it as I took the other and pushed upwards until it sat on its side.

It was a bit of a task to fit it into the elevator (I swear Peter's elevators are smaller than normal elevators), but after some maneuvering and a bit of sniggering, we managed. We took it upstairs to Peter's floor.

After Lucy unlocked the apartment, we began to attempt to fit it through the door. Just as it was halfway through, it suddenly jammed and stopped. Maybe my original theory that Peter's elevators were smaller than normal. Now that it was stuck in the doorframe too, it seemed that this sofa was just larger than your average sofa!

"Ooh! Be careful," Lucy said.

"Uh, maybe we should angle it a little," I suggested.

Lucy began to inspect the sofa and the doorframe. "Umm... I think it's wedged."

Well, I did move furniture for living. I knew all the ins and outs to it. I began to crouch down behind my side. "Why don't you step back for a minute? I'm going to try an old trick," I said.

Lucy did so. She watched me, curiously. "What's the trick?" she wondered.

I gave her my most deadpan expression. "Push it really hard," I said.

She chuckled, but let me have at it. "Okay."

It was actually just pushing really hard in the right spot. It found it and gave it all I got. Nothing happened.

"Okay, push," Lucy said.

"I did," I replied.

I stood up, resigned. It really was stuck. I saw Lucy, watching me, amused. "Do you want me to help you now?" she asked gingerly.

"Alright. A little help would be good," I said, defeated.

"Okay," she said, smiling. She stretched her hands then bent down, grabbing the sofa, ready to pull. I did the same on my end, ready to push.

"Ready? One, two... three!" I said.

We both gave it all we had. The sofa suddenly broke free, along with part of the doorframe. Lucy stumbled backwards into the apartment. She disappeared from my sight momentarily and I suddenly heard a loud crash of glass breaking. Uh-oh.

I came around the corner to see the damage. I found Lucy sprawled out over a small desk and a broken vase on the ground in front of her not too far off, clearly knocked off when she fell on top of the desk. The broken vase was not the worst of it though. What was bad was that the vase had been filled with blue-stained water, which was now soaking into the white carpet.

Lucy slowly stood up, cringing. I stared at the mess for a moment, considering. Then I smiled. "I think the sofa should go right there," I said.

Lucy giggled nervously.

And so, after we cleared up the glass and soaked up most of the water, we moved the sofa over the big blue stain.


	5. Walking Conversations

After we covered our little mess in the apartment, we left and went back outside to go home. However, as we approached the truck, I saw that another car had parked directly behind it... extremely close. That would not have been a problem had I not already parked extremely close to the car in front of me. I was trapped!

I ran to the truck. "Oh no, no, no! Look at this! This idiot has blocked me in!" I cried.

"Well I told you not to park that close," Lucy said.

I shook my head in exasperation. What can happen in just a few short minutes! But we were by the meters. Maybe the owner of the car wouldn't be too long. "Hey, check the meter, see what time," I said to Lucy.

"Oh it's 6:00. They could pretty much stay here all night if they wanted," she said.

I nodded. Alright then. I didn't have any money for a cab and I was pretty sure she didn't either. "All night, huh?"

There was always the option of heading back up into Peter's apartment. It wasn't like it was being occupied by anybody else anyways. Besides, it _was_ pretty nice up there, even if it was a bit bleak. Shame to let it go to waste. We could easily just go up there, maybe test out the new sofa. Side by side, just me and her... Whoa! Where were these thoughts coming from?

"Umm... goodnight," Lucy said.

I looked at her, her farewell suddenly breaking me out of my thoughts. Was she really going to walk home at this time, in this temperature, by herself? "You're just going to leave me here with the truck?" I asked.

"Basically. Yeah," she replied simply.

Well, if she wasn't going to stay, I was not comfortable with the idea of her walking home alone at night. This _was_ Chicago after all.

"Well maybe I ought to walk you back," I suggested, shuffling my foot.

"What for?" she wondered.

"For protection," I replied.

"Oh no, I'm fine. I'm okay," she said.

I was sure she would be, for the short amount of time I had known her, she seemed a very capable women. But despite my flaws, I was still a gentleman, and it would put my mind at ease if I knew she was safe.

I gave her a slight smile. "For me," I said, "I don't want to be here by myself. This is Chicago."

She smiled, amused, but she gave a gesture implying that I could come along. I hurried along after her, pleased.

As we walked, I noticed her huddled up inside her coat, shivering. "You look cold," I remarked.

"Hmm?" she asked.

"You look cold," I repeated.

"Probably because I am cold," she said with a laugh, "How about you?"

"This jacket's reversible. I'm wearing the warm side now," I replied.

"Oh I see," she said, giggling.

I looked at her again, still huddled up under her coat. Although large around her small figure, it looked old and not very warm. "You need a better coat," I said.

She looked at me. "This was my dad's," she said.

"Oh, then he's probably freezing," I quipped.

"He passed away," Lucy said.

Oh, whoops. I looked at my feet. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Lucy said warmly, "He passed away last year. I don't even remember my mom."

I was not sure whether I was treading in dangerous waters by discussing dead family members, but she had seemed casual and pleasant about it thus far, so in attempt to make conversation, I decided to dig a little deeper.

"What was he like?" I wondered.

"Oh he was a lot like me. Dark hair, flat chest."

I let out a laugh. She did as well. I shook my head slightly, smiling. That had sounded like a joke I would have made. Suddenly all the previous times she had laughed at my stupid jokes were making a lot more sense. "I meant what do you remember most about him?" I said.

"Oh that! Well..." she thought for a moment, "He liked maps."

I nodded. "Yeah, I live by maps. My truck's filled with them."

"We used to hear about a place on the TV, he would pull out the atlas, and we would route out this like little way to get there."

As she was talking, I thought about all the questioning I had done earlier. I decided to use this time we had now to begin asking questions to actually get to know her rather than to interrogate her. Hey, if we were going to be brother and sister-in-laws, we should know some stuff about each other. This talk about maps, sparked a new question.

"If there were on place in the world where you could go, where-?"

"Florence!" she answered before I even finished the question.

I smiled slightly at her enthusiasm and she returned it. "Italy? Ooh! I haven't delivered any furniture to Florence yet. But I'm told it's nice," I said.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"I take it you've never been there?"

"Well, you know, the El doesn't exactly make it all the way to Florence. So you know," she said sounding slightly dejected. She suddenly began digging around in her small purse. "Oh, but I do have..."

She pulled out a small booklet. A passport of all things. "My passport," she said, smiling.

I took it from her, laughing slightly. "You have your passport?" I asked in amazement.

"Yes I do."

"With you?"

"Well just in case I need to quickly leave the country," she explained.

"That's perfect. It's great," I said, flipping through it. I came across her picture. It was clearly taken a few years ago since her hair was a bit shorter, but she looked exactly the same. Once again, I asserted that she was very pretty. Hmm... that thought was popping into my head more and more often. "Oh, you're right. You're not photogenic at all," I said.

She snatched the passport back from me and I grinned. "Just joking," I told her. Then as she stuffed it back into her bag, I had to point out something I had noticed, "There aren't any stamps in that."

"Yeah, well I haven't gone anywhere yet," Lucy replied, suddenly avoiding my eyes, "But you know, I'm planning a trip to Florence really soon so... you know, I'll go."

I watched her as she fidgeted with her hands for a moment. Something was telling me she had been planning this trip for an undisclosed amount of time. And that made me sad. I noticed we had stopped walking all while were were inspecting her passport. I began walking once more and she followed my lead. I could tell she had a deep connection to her father and an urge to travel, but something was holding her back. I decided not to bring up the fact that I had noticed the fact that she could easily go to Florence, but would not, so I stayed in safer waters by saying something vague in regards to her father, "That'll make your dad very proud."

"Yeah," she said. There was a pause. "You know, in a very small way, you kind of remind me of him a little bit," she said after a moment.

I looked at her in surprise. Then I nodded, accepting it. She clearly admired her father, so I would take that as a complement. "I see," I said, "So he was a classy guy, always a gentleman. And a working man who-"

"Who just stepped in doggie poopie," Lucy interrupted me, pointing to my foot.

I looked down and sure enough, I had indeed stepped right into some dog poop. "Oh!" I cried and began to laugh. She laughed as well.

"Now that's classy!" Lucy said as I tried wiping it off, "That's classy!"

I continued asking more questions as we continued to walk, finding out more and more about her. She finally pointed out how much I was talking when we reached her block and I made my excuse that talking kept my face from freezing. The truth was though, I found her perpetually fascinating. The more I found out about her, the more I wanted to know. I couldn't help it. There was something... almost drawing me to her. It was strange.

We finally reached her complex. She smiled at me. "Well, thank you. I had a good time," she said.

I looked ahead. There was an icy patch right in our path. "Oh, it's slippery here," I pointed out. I gestured for her to step onto it. "Come on," I encouraged, then stepped onto it myself, "Got this far. I'll take you the rest of the way."

"But watch out, it's a little icy," Lucy said as we both began to carefully move forward over the ice.

"So umm... are you going to go see Peter tomorrow? she asked, but before I could say anything, she suddenly began to lose her balance. I caught her arm, stabilizing her. However, as soon as she was steady, my feet all of a sudden slipped out from beneath me and I was suddenly falling down towards the ice myself. Lucy caught me.

"Whoa!" I gasped, clinging onto her.

"Do not take me with you!" Lucy warned, beginning to laugh.

I managed to find footing and started to straighten up. "It's alright," I said, still holding onto Lucy just in case.

"You got it?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, just about to release her.

But it was a good thing I didn't because her feet suddenly slipped out from beneath her. I clutched her tightly as she struggled to find traction. She giggled incessantly and grabbed my shoulder, struggling to pull herself up. I helped her turn around so she could grab both my shoulders to help pull herself up. I was laughing now too.

"Oh this is... this is bad," I said through my laughs, grabbing her under her arms and trying to pull her up while she attempted to climb up by my shoulders.

It took several moments before she was finally upright. She managed to pull herself up, with some assistance from me and she came face to face with me. As I looked into her eyes, with her this close to me I suddenly felt this strange thrill surge through me. It was like an intense warmth spread all through my body and I suddenly wasn't aware of the cold around me anymore. I gave her a slight smile.

She slipped slightly again and she suddenly looked away from me to fix her footing. As soon as that eye contact was broken, reality came crashing down on me like a cinder block. Whoa, whoa! Where had all that come from? No, no, no. No pleasure whatsoever in holding her like this, no matter how beautiful she looked in the glow of the surrounding Christmas lights.

She continued to try and steady her feet against the icy ground. "You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"I think we're alright now," I said, shifting my hold on her.

She began to very slowly and cautiously move towards the side. "Over this way?" I asked.

"This way," she said.

I began to follow her. However, I felt my feet begin to slip once again. I grabbed Lucy for support, but she had not been prepared for me that time. We both went down and crashed hard on our faces onto the ground. A loud ripping sound split the air.

Lucy looked over at me, cracking up. "What was that?" she asked through her laughter.

I reached back to my tender buttocks. That fall had been brutal. Something had ripped back there. Probably my pants, but maybe something else based on the pain I was now experiencing. "Was that my pants or my muscles?" I groaned.

Lucy managed to get herself off the ice patch. She reached out to me. "Give me your hand," she instructed.

I grabbed her hand and she pulled me to safety, still giggling. I stood up and we both began brushing ourselves off as we slowly made our way towards Lucy's apartment. I looked back at the seat of my pants. There was a gaping hole where the entire back pocket had almost completely ripped off.

"Oh man!" I laughed, "Do you have an extra pair of pants in your apartment?"

"If you fit into my pants, I will kill myself," Lucy said.

I chuckled.

"You don't have to follow me," she added, noticing I was still trailing along behind her.

"You block the wind," I replied.

She laughed again and I chuckled myself. We both stopped in front of the door leading to her apartment. She cleared her throat. "I'll wait until you get inside," I said.

"Well, goodnight," she said.

I smiled. "Goodnight."

"I'll see you when I see you?" she said, shrugging.

I nodded. "Yeah."

She giggled and turned to go inside. She gave me a wave from the doorway. I returned it, then I watched her disappear inside. Once she was gone, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. I finally turned to leave. Wow, that was something.


End file.
